that on the brain. that is all this weekend on book tv. television for serious readers. now we kick off the weekend with eileen mcnamara who recalls of the life of the late eunice kennedy shriver. >> good afternoon everybody. thank you so much for coming out to politics and prose. on behalf of the staff and owners here welcome to our store. we are excited to welcome eileen mcnamara to talk about her new book, eunice. before we get started a couple of housekeeping notes. if we could all take a second to silence our phones, that would be great.

also, when we get to the question and answer version of the event if you wouldn't mind using this microphone here in the aisle so we can pick up your voice that would be appreciated. now for eileen's book. eileen mcnamara spent about 30 years with the boston globe. while there she was one of the first two right about the abuses in the catholic church. two choice awards from her long list of accolades. in her latest book she argues that eunice kennedy is the kennedy left the greatest legacy. after the tragic mistreatment of her impaired sister rosemary, by the medical community eunice used her wealth, strength and education to advocate for people with cognitive differences and their families. the washington post says eunice is discerning, mcnamara has written a fair-minded and will reported book. the children trusted her.

allowing them to have a sensitive nuance or trip. -- portrait. [applause]. [applause]. i see some old friends here. thanks for having me politics and prose. i remember this place because it opened its doors the first year i was in washington when the boston globe assigned me to come down here to cover politics. it was in a smaller setting if i recall across the street but what i remember the most it was a great refuge for me when i was trying to figure out what was in the tax reform package that i was supposed to be covering. i don't think i ever did figure that out, but this is a wonderful place to sort of hide.

in 1984 it was also the year that ronald reagan presented the presidential medal of freedom to eunice kennedy shriver. i don't actually remember that. if i kennedy sneezed in 1984 is big news in the boston globe. it must be my colleague who covered that ceremony and what what i've thought about eunice kennedy shriver in 1984. i'm guessing i would've thought she's president kennedy sister, she was sergeant shriver's wife. she's maria shriver's mother. i wrote this in part to restore eunice kennedy shriver to her own place in history which is remarkable for so many things beyond the founding of the special olympics. calling this book eunice was a stretch for me.

the publisher said you can't call it mrs. shriver. but everyone in her life and people who knew her for decades called her mrs. shriver. her daughter-in-law called her mrs. shriver. and i was sure if we named it eunice there would be a thunderbolt that would hit me crossing connecticut avenue. who was she. she was the often overlooked middle child she was old enough to be part of the golden trio they were the glamorous kennedys. rosemary was tucked in the middle forgot in her own way. so she round up at the kids table most of the time. supervising rosemary cutting her meat for her. supervising her younger siblings that she was at a

disadvantage to be overlooked in that way. so she was aggressive in trying to get her father's attention. she became the best sailor in that family the best tennis player the most aggressive of the touch football players simply to get his eyes on her in off of the boys. in 1989 she wrote a letter to her father probably in hyannis port saint i know you are so busy daddy spending all your time worrying about the boys careers. what about me. she knew the answer to that question. in the kennedy family power was the reserve of the men. the men played the women prayed. it was not in the cards for her to get his attention and

that political kind of way that she hoped too. so what joe kennedy wanted to give she took. and for all of its existence the names of the president of the joseph p kennedy junior foundation named for her older brother who was killed in world war ii from the beginning to the end the foundation was eunice's baby. , she decided where millions of dollars of kennedy money went to support research into the condition we called mental retardation. the condition that she found the experts wanting in their advice to people. what was the advice to mothers and fathers when eunice was growing up.

institutionalize your child for the sake of your other children and for your marriage. the kennedys have kept rosemary at home as long as they could. when mental illness intruded on intellectual disabilities that she suffered. whether he was misguided or ill intentioned is for others to decide. i think he grabbed onto the possibility that this new experimental cycle and neurological surgery would cure his daughter instead, it left her immobilized. she couldn't walk, she couldn't talk. and then came the real sin the guilt that she spent her life trying to not just for herself but for her whole family. joe kennedy shut his daughter

away in a psychiatric institution in upstate new york. it was ill-equipped to deal with her and had no rehabilitative services for her it wasn't until 1949 that she was set out to school in wisconsin where rehabilitation began. she got her speech back. we don't know exactly when i think she learned in 1949. i found a letter in the kennedy library in which the rights for her in the 70s

your daughter's personal physician has passed away. and we need your recommendation for a new dr. for rosemary. they heard back and said i have referred the letter to mrs. shriver. my daughter was involved in the original. when i came time to transfer her to wisconsin joe turned to the one child who have been closest to rosemary all her life. she spent hours on the tennis court trying to help rosemary develop the coordination so it was only natural that he would ring her of all of the children into this decision. it fueled something that propelled her through her life relentlessly powerfully i think i might have thought when i heard about that presidential medal how nice what a nice woman she is. doing all that charity work. she was a lot of things.

nice was not one of them. her work was a loss. she was now about charity. giving her money in her and her gifts to the less fortunate. that's her gift to us. we remember her from the special olympics of course. the accomplishment is that he got a whole population. in so many ways she is the empty joe kennedy. only first first-place finishes cap. as a model of special olympics. let me when but if i cannot when let me be brave in the

attempt. on the other hand she learned from her father her great gift was public relations. we are watching a six part series on cnn. about the kennedy family. why are we so fascinated. because joe kennedy took this family and he molded them and he sold us them. and we bought them. in this six part series of hours and hours of information that by the way we already know and it is an enormous injustice. the title of the book. that they left the most significant legacy of their brothers. they said today. while none of us would be here if jack kennedy had it resolved that.

maybe that's a little bit of a stretch. she said every title --dash make every child is entitled to a home. every time a child is entitled to compete. and think of the joy if they win. it was a revolutionary idea in the 1960s. equally revolutionary was opening the state of maryland. to a camp for children. the kennedy family is doing so much on this issue. i live in maryland.

she have no idea what she was doing. from the local catholic schools. i don't think that would happen today. the people in from very serious crimes. out in the backyard. because just like these children deserved a chance so to that those inmates. if they made mistakes in their life.

she was someone that believed in second chances. as far as we know no one got murdered. everything went along pretty swimmingly. if you look at pictures from that era where the buses it would would roll up in the morning. there is her own little children her mother said gone play and so their playmates were really disabled children who are wearing helmets and banging their heads on trees. they believed anybody could do anything.

those children were black, they were brown, they were all hues of the rainbow in 1962 it's not particularly conventional. what i learned in researching this book is how often eunice got there first. in 1945. two years before jack arrived in washington. with a wonderful political salon and business party. she was working for the justice department. quarterbacking a task force on juvenile delinquency. it wasn't until 1961 that bobby kennedy discovered

juvenile delinquency. he created a task force. they said we need to look at the juvenile delinquency issue. they got that part right. but what they didn't get right was this notion that they listened to the sister because it was such an annoyance. what if he was listening to her because on issues that mattered to eunice kennedy shriver she knew what worked. and she didn't want to waste any time. she wanted him to focus. he hasn't no record of caring about this issue at all. in the united states congress.

lackluster career in the house all better in the senate. it was designed to give federal dollars to train teachers and special education. they walked out of the hearing before the testimony began. much to the annoyance of the community that knew what the rest of the country did not that this issue have touched the kennedy family as well. but what they didn't know is that they would have an advocate in the kennedy family much more committed.

to put money into special education. to make sure they have the right to the seat in the classroom. didn't have that until 1975. the change in public perception that they brought through the special olympics the first year the problem she told jack was there is nothing in the national institute of health that is committed to discovering a child development. we do understand what these problems are and where they come from. we need to study infancy. we need an institute for child health and human development.

sort of a threat is said help is health. with no medical training that it was not true. very distinct. out there on the water. is something you have to think about a personal way. two enormous losses. he had have a stillbirth.

patrick had not yet been born. we don't know enough about stillbirth or why women miscarry. all a piece. the institute for child health and human development. he died shortly after birth. the research into development.

they had progress in such a way that is a nonstarter now. we owe that there. it's much larger than that. the advocacy without us knowing it. she was a massive contradiction that she was a lovely lady. largely an absent mother. and that the women's liberation were devaluing motherhood probably writing in

the car on the way to work. she couldn't see it in herself but she was a fighter and she fought all her life not just for this population but for pregnant teenagers for troubled kids. they see that 27 years. included in the 1975 law that required school districts including the americans with disabilities act. that lot which fundamentally changed the relationship of

people with intellectual physical disabilities of the world around them is no violation of a violation of their civil rights. they can roll and there well chairs across the street now because we had curbs that allow that. the same rights extend to people with intellectual disabilities. i would like to say 1984 ceremony in which she was honored and other people might think of it as retirement age. with the mental freedom was the end of the career. it was not the end of her career. she went on for two more decades.

in the fall of 2008. six months before her death she threw the last big gala at her gorgeous mansion for best buddies the corollary to the special olympics where able-bodied people are matched up with intellectual disabilities. for social activities and friendships it's an idea that the youngest child conceived in his dorm at georgetown. and she made it come to life by funding of course. the last big gala to celebrate that. raised three and half million dollars. for that effort. she was old and she was tired. in 2008. said so she slipped away from the party she went upstairs and elevator that she have installed for rosemary because it was eunice after he

suffered a debilitating stroke that silence silences very powerful voice who brought rosemary back into the center of that family. she came to visit in maryland with the shriver's. she was at dinner at ted's. she brought her back with the heart of the family and she stayed there. until she died in 2005. with all of her siblings. they got there to the bedroom. she crawls into bed. and in typical fashion has pencils coming out of her hair and all kinds of scattered ways. she summoned some to the bedside. the former governor and senator from connecticut into his himself have the father of a child with intellectual disabilities now an adult.

they think this is going to be a friendly chat. he said i walk into that room and there she is. as fierce as she's ever been saying what we can do about these amendments with the american disabilities act. what are we going to do about that. so frightened and so loud. they hashed out politics. to the very end of her life. i think they passed it onto the five children that continue that work was that

passing legislation in this town is never the end. it's the beginning. if the fight for every rehab probation. you have to be on the front lines all the time because the battle is never over. it's never over. so that is my little. [applause]. questions please.

>> that's one of the best talks i've heard. and not whether you really enjoy that. but i want to thank you for putting it forward in such a vivid way. and but enough and the card said it caught my eye it says quote from dr. seuss. why sit in when you can stand out. it was not important to her. not only that she disdained

the effort to make like it it was all fine. thank you for inspiring us with such a inspiring story of an inspiring woman and in doing that you encouraged all of us to go out and forget about sitting in and doing what we need. you get a better speech than i do. i think you hit on some --dash like something that's really true. she was a real character. she stood at 510 and weighed about 190 pounds. her mother would send her saw you on television in your

pants were too tight in the seat. i need to teach you how to wear pearls on a blouse. and they didn't care about any of that. the superficial did not matter to her. her mother would be looking wild with pencils in her hair. what she never combed and she have a convertible so the top would be down. why can't she look like all those other suburban washington ladies. she couldn't because she didn't care. i always enjoyed your stuff in the globe. did the struggle over those nominations affect her outlook on the situations at all.

she fought a lot of fights that she didn't win. but she knew what to walk away. her press secretary for that campaign told me that wherever they went as things were getting pretty dicey she would say as long as we are here let's go visit with whatever the local institution was. let's go to the local special olympics. throughout the fall of 1972. doing push-ups with special olympians. and you're just thinking wasn't there campaign going on

i found a wonderful telegram in her papers they gave me access to 33 boxes of her private papers that even they have not read. i don't know why you want to get into those boxes so desperately. not a single one. in their there there was a telegram that said they have been there. in the telegram said this is an opportunity let's talk about depression. this would be a great gift to the country. she was brave. she defied convention. she did not prevail obviously. the instinct was there. >> thank you so much for this.

how would you say that eunice kennedy shriver influence each other. it was one of the great political partnerships. it was an odd romance. she was very tough on him. and when they were first married and he knows how to talk to the common man. and you're always quoting theologians. they pushed each other and pulled each other. he was the maternal part of that family. a warm tender wonderful human being. and say children, raise your milk we are good at toast the

most beautiful woman the most wonderful woman in the room. i would invariably say and then your mother what. mommy did not reply. even more than the love for him. they came out of the same catholic faith tradition of social justice. and that was the fight. they were in it together. she never would have married sergeant shriver for decades father theater has spurred in a great civil rights leader of our time. for years he dined out with his friends on the story of

who was done living in chicago it was run by the nuns. she head in her mind that she was can adjoin the gonna join the convent. it was the one place where she saw that powerful women got to run the show. she was pretty committed to it. i found a classmate of hers when joe kennedy was the ambassador. who is now herself a nun. i have to tell you what we when we were in school together. i certainly thought she have a more likely vocation than i did. and now she's a sister of the sacred heart. the plans for his sons was one of them was in be the first president of the united

states. you will not elect the first catholic president of the united states on the arm of a woman can you see the optics at all. not working for him. it's a vision indeed but it was a vision that was never can happen. he'd actually thrown it together. and was immediately smitten with eunice she was very bright and the only one of the kennedy sisters to have more than a catholic education. she graduated from stanford. she is a substantive thinker and person. it did for sarge. they did for seven years.

joe got impatient and called on father has spurred. he called her down from chicago to notre dame. eunice, you have a vocation it's not for the convent. and he told that story. a hundred times to 100 different priests. with wonderful charm and bob obama. after three priests have told me this independently. he will tell you what really happened. i asked the question. you know i lean they are all dead it can't hurt anybody to

tell the truth. didn't you feel a little queasy. i would've. i knew what a wonderful man he was. and i knew how passionate she was. i just thought it would work. and work it did. his friends who will remain nameless --dash make nameless. if i could resurrect anyone from the dead from one final dinner it would be sergeant shriver. if there is one woman i would never resurrect it there's one

woman i would never resurrect it would be eunice. i just want to thank you for writing this book i have a 36-year-old goddaughter who four years ago moved home to connecticut because she wanted her parents to have some assistance with her 31-year-old sister who has down syndrome. she takes rebecca to her swim practice for special olympics and the whole family of course it is great to have a resource like this. that i could read about the person who made all of this possible. it also made me realize again that my goddaughter was in my life to make me a better person.

>> the very first special olympics was 50 years ago this summer. that first year and soldier field in chicago only about 100 parents turned up to see the thousand children who participated it tracks hundreds of thousands of people to its competitions all around the globe. in china, in russia these children were locked away. she did that. and what she did that was magical to meet. all of their children. that is great. thanks for giving this talk. it's fitting that your biography will be on the shelf next to that great biography.

this is a little shorter. i would like to ask you a question about another way in which they defied the conventions of their class in their use. during the democratic national convention they signed a full paid each ad. in the nsaids the story of america became the ever successful society. and made public space assessable to the handicap all in the service to the ideal justice.

in 1973. the u.s. supreme court in its abortion decisions drastically reversed this powder. these decisions they performed the most momentous act in history. they deprived every human being for the first nine months of his or her life of the most fundamental human right of all. the right to life. you will hear much about us in the newspapers. but there is a lot of progressive democrats who agree that legal abortion is not progressive. in besides this ad which is a matter of public record did you find letters or evidence of the intake abortion views. >> nothing if not consistent in her life. she opposed abortion just as she opposed capital punishment. there is a theory in the

catholic church in which she was grounded. in which all of life is part of one seamless garment. but she was a political pragmatist. and although she threw those decisions she tried valiantly and unsuccessfully when the democratic party became supporters to get teddy to stay on board. the original position was an opposition to abortion. after 73 he and the democratic party changed places. one of the great things about looking at woman like this she lived through some of the most incredible times. it was a liberal decision. the black panther party denounced abortion as a

genocide. in their view it was a wait for the white power structure the opposition came from her deep catholicism. whether it was a stronger democrat. she never hit it. she accepted an award. it was the conviction. it was not one to be overturned. i do a lot with her. i don't happen to share. she was sympathetic to people in those positions and kennedy

told me during a very difficult conversation about abortion about this issue. she was in physical pain every day of her life. should all kinds of metabolic issues going on. but she also suffered for the women who found them. everyone i interviewed even the former senator who would never want to head dinner with her again. is that she did not judge. very closely. and be public about them. but not judge others. when do the did the spark first go off in your mind. and how long ago was that.

it's been a long ride. i will tell you what with the first inspiration was. you might not know but she died two weeks before her brother ted. so in thinking about the possibility of this book and looked up those obituaries. i have to know in the many photographs all of the women were even either miss mis- identified or omitted entirely. in the correction that ran the

following day said everything to me about her struggle to be seen she got one sentence in the six part series that was your lot. i guess that's why i wrote it. i will also say thank you for the incredible book as you are talking. i just said there are there's some things i want to say here. i put a bunch of little notes here. one of the last times i saw her was the second thing i

remember when it i ask. sergeant shriver have been an experimenter in 1930s and asked them if they will have them for the summer. and so i said that is a great idea. do you realize that she was sleeping on the sofa and her room.

she jumped up and said a great idea. even though she's only 18 i think this is fabulous. it didn't work though. another time i'm one of nine children in an eyelash --dash mike irish catholic family identified for me. i did not realize we were at that same thing. i brought my daughter my sister to the last special olympics when it was re-created in her backyard. let's do it again. i said this is the time we can go and bring our sister to connecticut. she is out there like 85 years old. swimming with the olympians.

just the energy was beyond comprehension. and then the last thing. the masters from special education. in one of the reasons was at said that they actually did have the speaker at her graduation. she was so impressed with her that for the rest of her life she was working with special olympics. all i can say is right now i'm working with the peace corps volunteers to work on the 50th anniversary of the peace corps for the sergeant shriver

global messengers. the hammer for sure. anyway thank you. this is just brilliant. i will buy even more copies. thank for the work you are doing. have a question that may touch on a delicate subject. it seems to me like eunice was one of the early people to suffer from the glass ceiling. if joe had given the same quality and quantity of support to eunice that he gave to joe junior who ever.

i would like for you to comment on that. who knows what she could've done. it was not just the kennedy family it was the world itself that was admired. it's hard for any woman in the h century america to be seen and had opportunities. would she had loved to been the one that joe chose. but she have made a better congressman than jack did. she would've made a better senator. you hear presidents i don't think she could have gotten elected. she did not have a politic streak.

she said what she thought and she really didn't care what you thought. i don't think you could've ever taken that out. bobby infuriated people. i don't think any woman today can do that. she would not had teamed herself to run for elective office. she have more respect for people who were elected to public office than for anything she had accomplished people would ask in her dying weeks. you must be so proud of all you've done and all you've accomplished no you weren't.

the nature of the woman that was difficult. in the age of optics. she never would have accomplished what she did they would quake when their aid would say in one of the aides described to me her method of operation. she put her on his desk. and in stairway closer and closer and shoots a and this is what we can do. on this is what we are going to write. she never asked. she demanded. and she got what she wanted.

she used her name to the great advantage. using it for great effect for people that had no voice. she did not had to do that. she could've have a lovely leisurely life. bobby shriver said they taught us 70 things my parents never taught us to sit down. >> when did you learn to imitate her. i listen to a lot of audiotapes. did you hear that voice a little bit when you are doing research.

they have kept the office. exactly as it was. it even has the same stuff in the trash that was there the last time she was there. and it's locked and i ask if i could go in. and i went in and there is all this wonderful memorabilia including letters from rosemary when she was a child that reframed. a book fell off the bookshelf. and left me in there alone. i'm trying to get myself out of there. she was in there. she would not had liked me. i don't know how to sail or play touch football. i don't wait 105 pounds. i was everything that she would've looked at and saw

sloth. if the television was on and they were sitting on the couch watching tv. what does that mean. but they knew what it meant. get at it go to work. make a contribution. i kind of like to sit on the couch. i kind of like to sit on the couch. i didn't stick around and find out. i just wanted to get out of there. i know it's you do about 45. she would be in the oval office saying i don't know what you do over here but the

american with disabilities act needs to be reauthorized. she did not care who was in the oval office. whether it was a republican or democrat she was in his face. in the mid- 90s when clinton orchestrated what he called welfare reform she didn't see anything reformist about it. she went up to the white house and she have a meeting with the domestic policy advisor and after she gave elena kagan an earful and guess what happened. that money got restored. that bill got rewritten. her people were taken care of. she saw the big picture and she cared about the big picture but she knew you only

had so much time and energy in the world and she's focused hers on her people and she protected them for 50 years. [applause]. thank you. i'm very grateful. [applause]. [inaudible conversations]'s [inaudible conversations] .. ..